Persuasive Essay On The Atomic Bomb

On August 6, 1945, the first bomb was dropped on the city of Hiroshima. Three days later on August 9, the second bomb hit Nagasaki. Whether the United States made a moral and ethical decision is still an ongoing debate. President Truman was faced with a difficult choice. The U.S. chose to adopt a stance that seemed to limit the amount of casualties in the war, by significantly shortening it with the use of atomic weapons. It was certainly a reasonable view for the USA to take, since they had suffered the loss of more than thousands of lives, both military and civilian. To the top rank of the US military the death toll was worth it to prevent the “many thousands of American troops that would have been killed in invading Japan.” This was a grave
The atomic bomb was one of the most powerful weapons to be built during this time. Truman may not have been aware of the aftermath causes and effects it would have but he knew just how powerful this weapon was. If I was in Trumans place I would not have dropped the bomb. Many military leaders urged the President against dropping the bomb as they believed it was not a military necessity. Several of the scientists who worked on the Manhattan project quit or resigned in protest over Truman’s decision to drop the bomb. Einstein, the mastermind behind the idea, was not fully supportive with Truman decision. If I was in Truman’s place, I think I would have listened to the scientists and military leaders who were more knowledgeable than me in this area. The majority of expertise are against my decision so that should tell that what I’m doing is wrong. After dropping the first bomb, Truman saw the automatic impact that it had on the people. He could have just dropped the first bomb and realized what he had was a mistake. The fatalities and causalities lost by one bomb should have been enough to convince Truman that the second bomb was not necessary. Justifying the second bomb is harder because you have the results and proof of what occurred from the first bombs. If Truman was unaware of the ramifications of the act from before then by the end of the first bomb he had a clear idea of what the atomic bomb was capable